Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Elisabeth A. Shumaker
Clerk of Court
v.
HUGO ORNELAS-BURROLA,
Defendant-Appellant.
____________________________
ORDER AND JUDGMENT *
After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined
unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist in the determination
of this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is
therefore ordered submitted without oral argument.
This order and judgment is not binding precedent except under the
doctrines of law of the case, res judicata and collateral estoppel. It may be cited,
however, for its persuasive value consistent with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th
Cir. R. 32.1.
I. Procedural Background
On April 28, 2008, Mr. Ornelas-Burrola pled guilty to one count of illegal
re-entry of a deported alien, in violation of 8 U.S.C. 1326(a)(1) and (2) and
(b)(2), without benefit of a formal plea agreement. Following his guilty plea, a
probation officer prepared a presentence report calculating his sentence under the
applicable 2007 United States Sentencing Guidelines (Guidelines or
U.S.S.G.). The probation officer set Mr. Ornelas-Burrolas base offense level
at eight, pursuant to U.S.S.G. 2L1.2(a), and increased his base level sixteen
levels, pursuant to 2L1.2(b)(1)(A)(i), because he had previously been deported
following his 2001 felony convictions on four counts of trafficking in a controlled
substance cocaine for which he received a four-year sentence on each count,
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II. Discussion
On appeal, Mr. Ornelas-Burrola argues his forty-one-month sentence is
substantively unreasonable under the 18 U.S.C. 3553(a) sentencing factors
because the district court: (1) considered his eight-year-old drug conviction, even
though he no longer poses a risk of committing future drug crimes; and (2) failed
to consider uncontested evidence he planned to move his family from the United
States to Mexico to work and live on his fathers farm on his release from prison,
thereby establishing he posed no risk of re-entry into the United States.
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55 (10 th Cir. 2006) (per curiam). A defendant may rebut this presumption by
demonstrating the sentence is unreasonable when viewed under the 3553(a)
factors. Id. at 1054-55.
In this case, Mr. Ornelas-Burrola does not dispute that the district court
correctly calculated and applied the relevant Guidelines range and sentenced him
within that range. Therefore, his sentence is presumptively reasonable. Mr.
Ornelas-Burrola must rebut this presumption by demonstrating his sentence is
unreasonable in light of the sentencing factors in 3553(a). However, for the
same reason cited by the district court, Mr. Ornelas-Burrola has not demonstrated
the district court abused its discretion in considering his prior drug trafficking
convictions in sentencing him within the applicable Guidelines range. Drug
trafficking is indeed a very serious offense, and, consequently, we cannot say the
district court abused its discretion in considering it in assessing the length of Mr.
Ornelas-Burrolas sentence. In addition, Mr. Ornelas-Burrolas arguments
concerning his family circumstances and risk of re-entry are not sufficiently
compelling for the purpose of making his forty-one-month sentence unreasonable.
Thus, we conclude the district court did not abuse its discretion in imposing a
sentence at the bottom of the applicable Guidelines range, and Mr. OrnelasBurrola has not demonstrated, as required, that his sentence is substantively
unreasonable under the 3553(a) factors.
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III. Conclusion
For these reasons, we AFFIRM Mr. Ornelas-Burrolas sentence.
Entered by the Court:
WADE BRORBY
United States Circuit Judge
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